Rating: 
Summary: Horribly biased.
Review: This book is way too pro-Israel to make any attempt at historical honesty. There are other books out there which provide a much more accurate decription of the Middle East. Try Chomsky's "Fateful Triangle", for example, which, although dense, is much less biased than most anything else you'll find.
Rating: 
Summary: The Cliffs Notes Of Middle Eastern History
Review: Everyone will love this book. Very, Very insightful. An honest portrayal of all the events and parties involved in shaping the turmulent world of the middle east of the last three thousand years. One who is completely illiterate as to middle eastern affairs and is unable to understand the western world's and particularly The United States' involvement and desire to maintain their roles in the region could easily receive an A+ in a middle eastern history course with this books accompaniment. It makes clear all of the conflicts between the many nations involved in the long time war against israel and the jews and the frequently occurring skirmishes between neighboring arab states as well as the full scale wars. Political assassinations, suicide bombings, the looming threat of nuclear war, terrorist organizations ability to possess weapons of mass destruction and the 100+ related websites recommended in the back of the book were what i found most interesting. One thing for sure, makes you glad to be in the good old USA...thank you
God Bless
Rating: 
Summary: Fun to read, but extremely informative and fair!
Review: While this book is fun to read, it actually delves deeply into the issues at the heart of the conflict. Bard has done his homework and presented an objective and fair look at sensitive topics. This book is an excellent guide for those trying to determine whether what they read in the papers is based on fact or propaganda. Would make a great gift for college students and for those interested in the Middle East, no matter what their level of expertise. Even for people who think they 'know everything there is to know' about the Middle East, Bard has much to offer.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, an objective perspective!
Review: What an eye-opener! I found this no-nonsense, chronological history of the seemingly intransigient middle east conflict an invaluable aid in sorting out the roots of the Israeli-Arab dilemma. For example, I didn't know that the Arabs rejected the 1947 UN Partition Plan that would have given them a state larger than the one they're demanding now. Nor was I aware of the fact that the Mayor of Haifa in 1948 actually pleaded with his Arab neighbors not to flee but to stay in the city as the Arab armies were invading Israel. Thank you, Mr. Bard. I will recommend this book to all my friends.
Rating:
Summary: embarrassing
Review: I've never written a review before on amazon, but this book has ired me enough to take the time to do so. I am a complete idiot on the subject of the middle east, knowing nothing about anything in terms of arab-israeli issues. so i *thought* this book would be a good place to start. My friend warned me to make sure the book isn't slanted one way or the other or i would be misinformed greatly. i thought, how could a "dummies" book be controversial???
Well, I couldn't even make it 4 chapters in, without being disgusted at the complete bias the author displayed. I ended up asking my history major friend on a good non-biased book and he recommended me his university textbook...
A Concise History of the Middle East
by Arthur, Jr Goldschmidt
I'm reading it now, and loving it.
Rating: 
Summary: Retitle it "The Israeli Perspective on Middle East Conflict"
Review: Out of a desire to better understand the Middle East conflicts, I bought this book because -- yes -- I'm an idiot regarding the history of the Middle East. I was pleased, during the first half of the book, to be lead step-by-step through the history of the region, and -- even when my criticisms start -- I found it informative. But the author's bias is CLOYING. Much of the book is spent portraying Israel as a calm, 100% peaceful state that just wants to get along with everyone -- a huggable, squeezable state -- while the only time given to Arab grievances are terse, nasty, dismissive comments. When Israel wins a battle they are "vanquishing the enemy" (that's a quote), a phrase that is never used when the Arab forces win a battle. When some question is placed on the morality of Israel's motives and activities, Bard either spends a lot of time rationalizing what they've done (using a single set of statistics or a particular interpretation of a historian's comments), or he completely glosses over the issues. Not so with the question of Arab morality, which is bluntly and negatively portrayed. Hardly a page goes by without this bias being reinforced. As someone who just wants the information, I found this extremely frustrating, and far less useful than it could have been. That said, I learned a lot from it, but I had to use a kind of "propaganda filter" just to wade through it. I may ultimately agree with Bard's assessments, if he'd only give me a chance to make up my own mind about it, instead of constantly force-feeding his opinion to me. Bard's opinions are perfectly at place in a book for those interested in Israel's perspective. They are not at place in a book which supposedly covers the history of the region. It doesn't fulfill it's claim as "cutting through the confusion" or whatever...it is largely just a propaganda tool, made more annoying because it pretends not to be one.
Rating:
Summary: Pure Propaganda
Review: I was excited to find an easy to read and comprehensive text on the complicated problems of the Middle East but was soon discouraged. I honestly began the book with neutral feelings about the conflict. However the book is so blatantly biased toward the Isreali point of view it destroys the credibility of the author and "Idiot" books in general. It could have been authored by the Isreali government as far as I could tell. My copy is being returned to the publisher. It was that bad!
Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointed
Review: I figured that with all the books out there on comparative history, that the Complete Idiot's Guide would at least provide an objective look at this centuries old conflict. The first couple of chapters were somewhat informative (in a very basic kind of way) on the histories of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Unfortunately, that is where the objectivity died.This book is an excellent source on the history of the conflict from the Jewish perspective. I blame myself for not reviewing the author's biography before purchasing it. The bias can easily be found there. I hold no partiality for any of the three religions discussed in the book. I simply wanted an unbiased summary of the conflict. You will not find that in this book. It took everything I had to simply finish the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed Reader
Review: This book had the potential to be a great piece of work, however, Dr. Bard's obvious bias greatly detracts from its merit. If you can overlook the pro-Israeli slant the book still has a lot to offer. However, if you are new to the middle east conflict beware of the biased approach. I guess the adage "Know the author know the book" is true in this case. Since the author is the Executive Director of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE)the bias should not be surprising.
Rating:
Summary: An Idiot's view of the Middle East
Review: or so this book should have been titled. How saddening it was to expect to read a simplistic, impartial education of the Middle East conflict. Instead, I was sickened to view a book that I saw as biased and misleading, giving a clear indication that Israel is the victim and has done no wrong in the history of their existence. One chapter details the Israeli casualty rate, such as the "Six Day War" and the "War of Attrition", but fails to mention the Arab casualty rate, such as ten thousand Egyptian soldiers killed while retreating from the Israelis. The author mentions how Israel attacked Syria because it was shelling Israeli settlements, but fails to mention how Israel provoked many fights to gain more territory, as is admitted by prominent Israeli leaders. These are only two of several areas in which this book was significantly tilted toward the pro-Israeli side, disallowing the reader to gain an accurate account of what actually transpired in the Middle East. Perhaps the occupation of the author (Executive Director of the nonprofit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise) may shed some light as his obvious one-sided accounts.
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